


Neal Caffrey or I Thought I Was Done Being Boy Hostage

by mielipieli



Series: Neal Caffrey or Wait, you're a superhero? [3]
Category: Batman (Comics), Titans (Comics), White Collar
Genre: Angst, Fluff, Gen, Neal Caffrey is Dick Grayson, there's more people mentioned and others who are there but not mentioned on their own
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-03-13
Updated: 2018-03-13
Packaged: 2019-03-30 19:36:39
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,774
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13958553
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mielipieli/pseuds/mielipieli
Summary: When the JLA and the US government have a conflict, Neal isn't really in the safest position with the FBI.





	Neal Caffrey or I Thought I Was Done Being Boy Hostage

“I am a member of the Justice League of America which grants me United Nations authorization”, Neal said calmly trying to ignore the way his legs were still shaking from whatever knockout gas he had inhaled. “I am on an active mission in that capacity. If you continue to hold me against my will, the JLA has the right to free me without your cooperation.”

 

There was no answer. Neal hadn’t expected there to be any. He’d been facing one of the cameras in the cell he’d been placed in while still unconscious. Honestly, he’d kind of been expecting something like this to happen at some point. The JLA and the US government were at odds with each other for some reason. Neal hadn’t managed to ask Babs what was going on, yet. Or more accurately she’d been too busy to answer his question. 

 

She had, however, sent him a message telling him to be careful because there might be parties who would want to either use him against the Justice League or use the situation to get information out of Neal. So when he’d been asked to come to an interrogation room a few levels down to talk about a case to do with the Justice League, Neal had been expecting a trap. He’d activated the Oracle app and selected potential danger. 

 

There’d been no one in the interrogation room. Neal had almost rolled his eyes when the door was locked behind him and had crossed his arms. Then the knockout gas was flushed into the room and Neal had felt a pang of disappointment. He’d been hoping he could get Babs information before something like this happened. 

 

Neal sat back down in a corner of the empty cell. It was definitely designed well. There were no camera blind spots, a speaker for any necessary announcements, the vent was in the middle of the ceiling - built in so it couldn’t be removed - the door was shut tight with no air getting in or out, as was the slit for food. The toilet was a thin opening in the floor which seemed to suck everything in once something passed below the level of the floor. Yeah, he wouldn’t get out of here on his own. 

 

Neal decided to meditate. His head was still pounding from the aftereffects of the drug and he needed to have his wits about him. Neal breathed in. He hoped to god no one was in danger. Anything could be happening and he wouldn’t know. Neal breathed out. He hated being so uninformed. He was a Bat. He throve on information. Neal breathed in. This wasn’t working. He’d never really liked meditation. Always been to restless for it. Flying Grayson and all. 

 

“Stand up, back to the door, hands on the wall”, a harsh voice interrupted Neal’s musings of what to do with his time. 

 

Neal followed the instructions. They’d probably pump the room full of knockout gas otherwise. Neal heard the door open and kept himself from at least turning his head. There were quick heavy steps - guards, most likely - followed by steps that were not as heavy and quite a bit slower. Someone stepped closer and stopped right behind Neal. They pulled his hands to his back and handcuffed him with a pair of heavy, thick handcuffs. Then, without a word, they stepped back again. 

 

“Turn around, Caffrey”, a female voice said.

 

Neal did as asked and looked around the room. There were two armed guards - one in each of the corners next to the doors - with their guns pointed at Neal. There was a high chance the guns were filled with tranquilizer rounds but Neal wouldn’t want to bet his life on it. In the doorway stood another guard - most likely the one who had cuffed Neal - and the woman who had just spoken. 

 

She was obviously the commanding officer. Commander Leeway. Neal had only a faint idea of who she was. If he remembered correctly, she was responsible for an anti-metahuman unit. But that wasn’t recent information. From three years ago at best. Neal ran through the schematics of the room. It could easily be used to incarcerate metahumans - at least those with normal power levels.

 

He might be in one of the illegal metahuman prisons, the existence of which Bruce and Diana had been trying to prove for years. Boy, his life wasn’t getting any easier, was it? 

 

“Commander Leeway”, he said acting as if he knew everything there was to know about her. 

 

“Don’t try anything. There’s more guards outside”, Leeway replied harshly. 

 

Neal decided there was no point in trying not to antagonize her. She was already antagonized: “You did hear the part about the active JLA mission, right? Because I’d just hate to have to repeat myself.”

 

Leeway let out a dry laugh: “In a few hours the UN will cut all ties with the Justice League of America. And we have our very own hostage to keep them docile.” She gestured to Neal and he tensed slightly. “They’re not going to find you. This place has stayed hidden after years of investigations by various Justice League members.”

 

“So, did you just come in here to gloat about what great things you’re doing?”

 

“God, no”, Leeway smiled. “I’m here to inform you that any and all information you can give us about the Justice League’s members will get you closer to getting out of here.”

 

“Well, Superman dislikes the fact that his cereal doesn’t contain chocolate. Seriously, he called it a disgrace to his symbol.”

 

One of the guards was obviously trying to suppress a grin at that. Leeway didn’t seem to find Neal as funny. She pressed a button and an electric shock went through Neal starting at his hands. His knees buckled and everything went black for a moment. When his vision cleared and his ears stopped ringing, the room was empty, the door was still locked, and Neal still had the handcuffs on.

 

* * *

Neal refused to fall asleep. He wanted at least some measure of how much time was passing. He struggled for a while and thought about how, if they were going to torture him, having slept would definitely help. He decided that their primary purpose wasn’t information. It was either being able to use him against the JLA or - which Neal was starting to think was more likely - they were scared he had information.

 

It made sense. The community had always been harsh on anyone who would harm one of their own. Even in a conflict Neal doubted anyone would think the leverage would be worth that wrath. Not wanting something to get out would be a much better reason. The other reasons were probably pretense and truth to an equal amount. Once you had a reason to lock someone up, you could use them in more ways than one. Wouldn’t want all of that wrath to go to waste.

 

Neal sighed. He wanted to sleep. He was already thinking this through the fourth time. He needed a fresh mind. Neal lay down on his stomach, closed his eyes and drifted off.

* * *

There was a loud noise coming from the speaker and Neal jumped to his feet. He landed in a fighting stance although he couldn’t move his hands apart. Neal quickly relaxed again. Nothing had changed in the room except for a tray standing at the door.

 

Then an announcement started: “Your handcuffs will be deactivated. Place them at the door. Eat everything, then place the tray and any trash with the handcuffs.”

 

Neal thought about not eating the food to avoid anything that might have been put in there but to be honest it wasn’t that hard to drug him if they really wanted to. The handcuffs deactivated and fell to the floor. Neal brought his hands to the front and rubbed them as the circulation picked up. The skin at his wrists was slightly irritated and there were burns where the taser had sat.

* * *

Neal was alone for the next five days - at least he thought it was five days because of the meals. The light was never dimmed and without any secondary information, there was no way to check whether the meals came at the same times of day. Neal was pretty sure they didn’t. He knew it was on purpose but it was still driving him crazy.

 

His days were spent exercising, meditating and recounting books and movies he knew well. Neal was mostly trying to distract himself from the crippling fear that one his family and friends were hurt and two he was going to be stuck here forever. It pained him to know how much this cell was already affecting him. For Christ’s sake he had been in prison for months without any problem. Of course he would have been able to get out of there if necessary and he had had contact with other people.

 

Neal was a social creature by nature. He wasn’t well if he didn’t have someone to confide in and talk with. It was what Bruce had written down as his biggest weakness. Of course Bruce would see it that way and Neal knew where he was coming from but it was also what made him a good leader. The one time he’d tried not to have a personal connection with his team - with the Outsiders - had failed dramatically. 

 

Neal took a deep breath. He hated that a body language expert could analyse his psyche with just these past few days of camera footage. He’d hidden his thoughts as best he could but there were always things that shone through. Things he did to keep himself sane were things he gave away about himself. 

 

Knockout gas was released into Neal’s cell and he almost rolled his eyes as he collapsed.

* * *

Neal woke up handcuffed to a table in an interrogation room. It was standard: camera, speaker, microphone, one-sided mirror, two chairs, one of which he was sitting on. There was no one else there but Neal smiled at the mirror hoping someone was standing exactly where he was looking.

 

Suddenly there a loud noise on the other side of the mirror. A crash. Then the mirror exploded into the room and Neal instinctively protected his head. When he looked back up, he saw Batman standing there with Superman floating a bit behind him as if waiting for Batman’s okay - Clark was probably giving Bruce the space to beat people up in anger.

 

“Hey, B”, Neal smiled and tried not to let his relief show too much. 

 

Clark shot forward and tore open his handcuffs with a worried look: “Are you alright?”

 

Neal nodded: “I’m still feeling the knockout gas but otherwise I’m great.”

 

Bruce had climbed through the mirror and was now looking him over carefully, his eyes stopping at the burns on his wrists. He stepped closer and took one of Neal’s hands into his, turning it around carefully. Then he looked at Neal’s face: “Taser?”

 

“Yeah.”

 

The corners of Bruce’s mouth twitched down and Clark tensed slightly which Neal saw in the corner of his eye. Neal gently pulled his hand from Bruce and pushed himself up wobbling slightly. Clark caught him when his legs gave out. 

 

Neal gritted his teeth: “I think I still have a bit of that knockout gas in my system.”

 

“You think?”, Bruce asked sarcastically but obviously worried.

 

Clark lifted him bridal style without a word.

* * *

“Healing taser burns on the inner wrists, a harmless compound in the blood that should clear the system in the next three to five hours, and signs of stress and exhaustion that were to be expected. There’s no need to worry”, Doctor Mid-Nite explained to Neal and Batman.

 

“I told you that I’m fine.”

 

“You couldn’t stand.”

 

“I had woken up two minutes earlier from drug-induced sleep.”

 

Bruce was obviously rolling his eyes under the mask. 

 

“Now let me get up and tell everyone that I’m alright.”

 

Ten seconds passed before Bruce stepped away from the bed. Pieter was sorting the medical supplies and was obviously very amused by their conversation. Neal jumped to his feet and tried to hide his dizziness but Bruce had obviously seen it judging by his raised eyebrows. 

 

As soon as Neal opened the door, he was jumped by a small figure with black hair that screamed: “Dick!”

 

Dick stumbled back a bit laughing and almost losing his balance: “Hey, Helena!”

 

The three year old’s legs were apparently quite strong because she had jumped him right into his arms. She peppered his cheeks with kisses, turning his head to the other side after each one. 

 

“Helena, what did I say about hugging Dick?”, Selina asked.

 

Helena stopped her kisses: “That my siblings also want to do it?”

 

“Exactly. So what are you going to do?”

 

“Give him one more kiss and then let the others cuddle him?”

 

Before Selina could answer, Helena pressed a kiss on Dick’s nose and let her legs go loose. Dick kissed her forehead and then set her down. For the next ten minutes while everyone hugged him and told him how worried they’d been, Dick tried not to let on how exhausted he was. He smiled and reassured them that he was fine. 

 

When his family was through, Donna spoke up from where she’d been standing with Wally and Roy: “How about we find you a guest room to get a good night’s rest before you collapse where you’re standing?”

 

Dick nodded in agreement and looked around the room: “I’ll see you guys tomorrow.”

 

“Or in three days judging by the circles under your eyes”, Roy joked.

* * *

“Oh, I promised to text Garth once the good doctor let you out of his medbay”, Donna said halfway to the living quarters. “He was needed at the UN.” She fished her phone from her pocket and typed a message, sent it and then looked at Dick: “How are you doing?”

 

“I’ll tell you once I’ve gotten some sleep.”

 

Donna hummed: “That good?”

 

“I’m exhausted to my bones”, Dick replied honestly.

 

“You’ll feel better tomorrow.”

 

“I know”, Dick sighed. “I still have no idea what actually happened the past week.”

 

Roy laughed softly: “We can fill you in tomorrow.”

 

They arrived at the empty guest room that had been prepared for Dick.

 

“You gonna be alright on your own or do you want us to stay”, Wally asked.

 

“I’ll be fine.”

* * *

Dick actually was fine. He knew when to expect nightmares and as exhausted as he’d been, there had been a very small chance that he would have any. He woke up slightly confused as to where he was but the confusion cleared within a few seconds. There was a knock at the door. 

 

“Can I come in?”, Babs called through the door.

 

“Sure”, Dick called back and got up. 

 

Babs pushed open the door and rolled into the room: “You’re looking better than I expected.”

 

Dick raised his eyebrows: “Wow, thanks.”

 

“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean it like that”, Babs smiled softly. “They said you were okay but you know how I am…”

 

“Always expecting the worst.”

 

Babs nodded thoughtfully and then snapped back to reality: “Doctor Mid-Nite asked me to give you these.” She pulled out a pill package. “You apparently have a few vitamin deficiencies that he wasn’t looking for yesterday.”

* * *

Neal waved at Peter from across the coffee shop and Peter looked at him in confusion. Neal wasn’t supposed to be here. A few days ago the FBI had been informed by the JLA that Neal would not be returning and that they would not be seeing him again. So he shouldn’t be here, even in sunglasses and with a cap. 

 

“I thought you weren’t coming back.”   
  


Neal grimaced: “I’m not. I think my family would lock me in the Batcave if I planned on actually doing that.”

 

“I might help them.”

 

Neal laughed under his breath: “Yeah, that’s what Troia said when I complained about it. So I don’t think they’ll need any more help.”

 

“Why are you here then?”

 

“To say goodbye. Can you tell the others for me that I’ll miss them?”

 

“As long as you send me postcards.”

 

This time Neal’s laugh was loud: “I will. A lot of them might be from Gotham, though.”

 

“As long as I know you’re alright.”

 

Neal stood up and put on his jacket with a smirk: “Ask Diana to tell you who to look for.”

 

While Peter was still trying to figure out what he meant, Neal slipped out of the coffee shop. What did Diana know that he didn’t?


End file.
